It Takes a Village
by Masked-Writer-In-Disguise
Summary: AU. 'It was no skin off the Hokage's back having his son cut his best friends hair during weapons' practice. He was taking notes from the village it took to raise him.' Maybe a dump for familial Minato/Naruto fics.
1. Haircut

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Alright, this is just a small little drabble thing that I wrote forever ago and originally had no intention of posting, but then I started reading through the files saved on my computer and I decided this was funny enough to post and y'all ain't been getting enough work from me, so here's a little… snack, I guess. Enjoy!_

_P.S. AU (which means our favorite little hero has a dad! YAY!... and Obito's alive…because he helps Kakashi babysit Naruto (yes, it takes two people to babysit Naruto)…)_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own it, I swear!_

_**Inspiration:**__ Just wanted to do something funny and innocent and light for a change and I got this… It's all Bug's fault. I swear I usually don't come up with these idea's on my own!_

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Haircuts_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

"Look, I'm sorry I had to call you here, Hokage-sama. I'm sure you're very busy," Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, "but your son decided he wanted to give Sasuke-kun a haircut today during weapons' practice."

"Well, does the haircut look good?" Minato asked with an amused smirk playing across his lips.

The poor Chunnin looked absolutely lost. "…What?"

"The haircut; does it look good?" the Hokage repeated, still smiling. He couldn't help but find the whole thing amusing. Obito had gotten into trouble from cutting Kakashi's hair; Minato himself had gotten into trouble for dying his Academy sensei's hair. It was no skin off the Hokage's back having his son cut his best friends hair during weapons' practice. He was taking notes from the village it took to raise him.

"Um… Well, yes, but I think you're missing the point, sir. Your son cut another student's hair with a kunai. That's considered very bad by most. Sasuke-kun's father is furious."

"So why exactly are you telling me this? I'm sure Fugaku-san will talk my ear off when he gets the chance."

"Mizuki and I thought you should hear from us rather than have Uchiha-sama blowing things out of proportion," Iruka blushed slightly.

"Thank you, Iruka. Where is Naruto now?" the blond man stood up, preparing to leave.

"He's in the director's office with Sasuke-kun and his father, probably being yelled at by both adults," Iruka answered with a wince.

"Alright, thank you, Iruka. I'm going to save my son from what I'm sure is going to be a very boring, redundant lecture full of words a child Naruto's age is going to have difficulty understanding."

With that, the blond man left, navigating his way through the Academy halls to the Academy director's office. Minato knocked politely before entering, not waiting for his cue to do so and pushing open the door. The scene he found made him smirk inwardly. Naruto was sitting next to Sasuke in front of the director trying his very best to look suitably repentant and failing miserably while Sasuke tried to look angry but kept letting a small smile towards the blond boy shine through. Fugaku was glaring openly at the young prankster with his hand on his son's shoulder, as though he were trying to make sure Sasuke didn't forget his father was in the room with him, and Minato had to distinct impression that Fugaku had just finished yelling at the poor blond.

As soon as Naruto saw his father, the boy stopped failing at trying to pretend to be contrite and grinned his usual bright, fox-like grin, jumping up and latching himself onto Minato's leg. The man ran a tan hand through the six-year-old's golden locks and smiled disarmingly and Fugaku. Sasuke really did look better with the pixie cut. The style suited him.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&\

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Well, there you have it!_


	2. The Gift

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Hey, guys. I just need to vent because I've had a very traumatic week what with switching schools and having to send my iPod (my main escape from the idiots of the world) for repairs for who knows how long, so I need to write something… something vaguely depressing revolving around an iPod… so I give you this bit of drivel… don't really care much if you all like it, but it's part of my __It Takes a Village__ series thing… Yeah, very emotional right now._

_By the way, not all of the fics in this fic dump have to do with Naruto and Minato, but rather the village it takes to raise Naruto, and Minato isn't always alive in them, just in most, but they are all AU. And the title for the entirety comes from the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child."_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own anything, not Naruto nor the right to iPod, but I do own (maybe) this plot-ish thing… if there is one…_

_**Inspiration:**__ My shitty week… and the 'sickness' of my iPod… _

_**Warnings:**__ hints of past child abuse…_

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_The Gift_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

The seven year old slumped against the wall wearily, in pain, cold _(it was early October)_, and sighed. He couldn't go to Iruka's; Iruka-sensei was out of town on one of his rare missions he was required to take. He couldn't go home; it was too far to walk. At this point Naruto was ready to scream. He hadn't even done anything to those men, just walked by, and now he could barely walk and he was bruised and ready to fall over and sleep. Naruto was still only a child and the instinctive thing for a child to do at this point was to seek out comfort, but he had no one from which to seek comfort that was home. His sore back slid down the wall and his breath began to come quickly, too quickly; panicky.

What kind of grown man got off on beating a defenseless child? Naruto knew. Just about every grown man in this village… Well, they got off on beating him. Why? The child didn't know. He didn't know anything, he couldn't because nobody would tell him. He just knew he was young and hurt and hated and scared, and he desperately wanted a hug and a warm place to sleep and a good meal in his belly. Tears added themselves to the mix and Naruto found himself experiencing his first panic attack. He couldn't breathe and his chest hurt and he couldn't stop crying and his nose was clogging and no more air and this all made him cry harder. He couldn't stop, and he saw black rimming the edges of his vision; Naruto knew he was either going to pass out or die and there was nothing he could do about it and there was nobody except Iruka that would care.

The world seemed to fall out from underneath the boy, but then there was a voice, a gentle, caring voice, telling him to breathe in; let it out. Breathe in; let it out. It never even occurred to Naruto not to listen to the man. The man said he knew it hurt _(and it did; oh gods, it did, burned, seared, tore, screamed at him to inhale but at the same time prevented just that from happening)_, but Naruto needed to breathe; in, out, in, out… he could feel the big chest against his ear and he tried to model his own frantic breaths to match the steady rise and fall of the man's and soon Naruto was breathing again, easily as though there had never been a near death experience. There were warm, safe, strong arms wrapped around his small body and the ground really wasn't underneath him anymore. Naruto was being carried, gently, like he meant something to this man, and the boy didn't even question it. He knew he probably should, but it really didn't matter right now. The man had saved him, and Naruto, usually a pretty good judge of the people around him, felt he could trust this man.

When Naruto finally opened his eyes, he found himself lying on an old, battered sofa, a large dog watching him with big brown eyes. Slow, calming music drifted though the air. Naruto sat up slowly, noticing that the cuts he'd had on his lip and on the backs of his knuckles had been cleaned and bandaged. Deep blue eyes darted around the room suspiciously and landed on the man in the kitchen, sitting at the table. Well, maybe he was still only in his late teens, but that hardly mattered to Naruto; everybody bigger than him was a grown-up. This grown-up had silver hair and a mask covering the lower half of his face, his attention focused on the book in front of him.

Naruto sniffed and icy blue eyes darted to him. The boy froze, unsure of this stranger's intentions. Instead of the hate he was used to seeing in the eyes of the people regarding him, Naruto found there was genuine concern and relief in the man's eyes. Naruto stared at the man and waited for an explanation or a smile or frown, shout; anything other than what he received. The man actually smiled at him. Up until that point, Naruto had only ever been smiled at by the Third Hokage and Iruka-sensei.

The confusion must have been present on his face because the man casually marked his page with a torn piece of paper and said, "Hello, Naruto. My name is Kakashi, and you are in my apartment. Nobody will hurt you in here."

"Why do you know me, but I don't know you?" Naruto probably could have figured that out by himself; everybody in Konoha knew him, but he didn't know everybody else. It was just the status quo here, and Naruto had gotten used to it… but that didn't mean he had to like it.

Kakashi's eyes softened. "I've known you since you were born, but you probably don't remember me. You were very young the last time I saw you."

Naruto raised a disbelieving eyebrow, at which Kakashi's strange half smile widened until his eye was a complete crescent. "Believe me, or don't, as you wish, but I would like to give you something, either way."

Kakashi dropped his book to the table below him with a plop and stood up, leaving the room. When he returned, Kakashi had a small box in his hand and Naruto knew immediately what it was; a lot of the older kids at the Academy had them, had an iPod, but until then, Naruto had never thought he'd actually be allowed to have, much less actually be able to afford, one. Inside he laughed because he knew that most other seven year olds didn't have to worry about money and paying the bills and budgeting

The boy automatically looked for the catch. He didn't take it when it was offered because he was never given anything freely by anyone that wasn't Iruka-sensei, and this man was very different from Iruka-sensei. Kakashi seemed to understand his hesitation.

"There's no catch. Your birthday's tomorrow, yeah?" Kakashi pushed the box closer. "This is your present from me."

"Why?"

"Because I want to." Kakashi's face was blank, but Naruto sensed no alternative motive from the silver-haired man, so he slowly took the proffered box. After sitting and looking at it for a few minutes, the blond looked back at the older man.

"I don't have a computer or any music."

"I've already put some on there, but if you want more, feel free to drop by and use my computer," Kakashi smiled. "Do you like rock?"

Naruto let out a little smile and nodded. Kakashi ruffled the boy's hair and said, "You can sleep here tonight, but I have to leave for a mission tomorrow, so you'll have to go home then."

Naruto nodded. "When will you be back?"

"Dunno…"

The boy just nodded; it was an expected answer. Kakashi was a shinobi or Konoha and that life was unpredictable.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Naruto blinked as he stared at the man that had stuck his head through the door; Kakashi was his sensei? He could suddenly feel the weight of his iPod against his upper thigh, and a small smile started to tug at the corners of his lips. He and Kakashi went way back, the older man actually holding up his end of the bargain in promised music and computer time. Naruto was even allowed to raid Kakashi's book collection _(the ones that weren't porn)_, take them home, read them, and all as long as he showed them proper respect and returned them when he was finished. Kakashi was as much an important person in his life as Iruka and Sasuke were, even if the man didn't quite realize it. Naruto saw him as an uncle, one of the cool ones that the other kids got to talk about; the ones that took them out for no other reason than they wanted to; the ones that picked on the kid, but really, really cared for them.

Instead of letting his excitement show through, he just sniggered that a jonin had fallen for such a simple trap. Naruto met the man's eye and he could see the amusement there even as he called the entire team a group of idiots. Sakura and Sasuke couldn't see Kakashi was just picking on them _(Kakashi always picked on Naruto)_, but Naruto could and didn't take offense to it. He rarely did anyway.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Well, there you have it. Just some meaningless little thing, or not… either way, I hoped you liked it (even if I said I don't care in the beginning. I need to feel appreciated right now because I'm just feeling down…)._


	3. Panks

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Well, I like these guys so much that I had to write for them again, so here's another little story revolving around Naruto and his dad… It's kinda cute… Fluffy… I think I was hungry when I wrote this… Anywho… Here it is!_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own Naruto or his father, but I do own this little plot that I've gone and thrown them into…\_

_**Inspiration:**__ I haven't the foggiest…_

_**Warnings:**__ Cuteness… and that's it, really…_

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Panks_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

"Dad…" Naruto's little fingers poked Minato's nose. The older blond man mumbled unintelligibly and shook his son's fingers away. "Daddy…" Naruto said a little louder, poking more insistently only to be ignored again. "Dad!" the six year old said, louder still. When Minato swatted the small hand away and rolled over, Naruto huffed, rolled his eyes and climbed up onto his father's bed, coming around so that his face was right in front of the older man's.

"Daddy!" Naruto whined and pried one of his father's eyes open. "Daddy, I want panks!"

"Naruto…" Minato whined in response as he opened his bleary eyes to focus on the boy. "What does the clock say?"

The boy scrambled over to the alarm clock and read off, "Seven five nine."

Minato groaned and ran a hand over his face, "Naruto, its Saturday…"

"But I want panks…" Naruto deadpanned as though it should be the most obvious thing in the world to want pancakes at 8 AM on a Saturday morning.

"Can you wait a little bit?"

"No," Naruto raised his eyebrow. He knew his daddy was going to get out of bed and make him breakfast in the end; he always did, but he put up the token resistance first. This is how their Saturday mornings usually went.

"Five more minutes?" Minato asked hopefully.

"No, Daddy, I want panks!" Naruto gave his best glare _(which was pretty much the equivalent of one of Sasuke's worst)_ and tried to look menacing. His father sighed and flopped down into the bed for a few more seconds of comfort before heaving himself up, grabbing ad throwing the six year old over his should as he did so.

"You gonna help me make them? You did wake me up after all…" Minato gave his son a little swat on the butt and wandered out into the short hallway, through the living room into the kitchen, Naruto laughing and struggling to get down all the way. In truth, Minato knew that if he let Naruto help him with their breakfast it would end up all over the kitchen, but he had to say it because it was part of the Saturday morning ritual. Naruto liked the Saturday morning ritual.

The man swung the boy down to the kitchen floor and went to the coffee pot to make some of the habitual liquid before going to the pantry to get all of the needed pancake ingredients. Naruto stood in the center of the room and watched, laughter still shining in his eyes.

"Do you want blueberry, raspberry or regular?" Minato went to the fridge to look at their fruit selections.

"The red ones."

"Alright, raspberry it is." After that, Minato whipped up the mix and set them to cook in the frying pan.

"Daddy," Minato grunted in acknowledgement, "can I have some coffee?"

The man looked up to see his son standing in front of the coffee maker with a curious look on his face. Minato sighed, "Sure, why not. You'll be drinking it eventually…"

Of course, Minato never actually meant to give his son pure coffee, but coffee flavored cream and sugar was better than dashing his hopes. After they'd sat down to eat and Naruto had already gulped down half of his coffee flavored cream and sugar, Minato realized that no matter how miniscule, the caffeine kick he'd just introduced his son to was going to make the brat a little hellion.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ and there it is… now I want pancakes…_


	4. Safety

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ This is just a little stress-relief drabble in the __It Takes a Village__ fic dump… I like it; it's cute._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own any of the characters, but I do own the story, so there._

_**Inspiration:**__ I have no idea… I just needed to write something and my pen decided that this was it._

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Saftey_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

The middle of the night found Iruka in bed with Kakashi spooned to Iruka's back and awake. Why was he awake? The school teacher wasn't sure, until the bedroom door opened slowly and a small form slipped into the room.

Naruto. The boy had probably had a nightmare or something along those lines. Naruto had been having so few nightmares lately that Iruka was somewhat surprised, but if he boy needed to know he was safe, who was Iruka to turn him away? Never before, when under Iruka and Kakashi's roof, had the boy had to fight his night terrors alone, so why start now? Even adults needed comfort sometimes, so 8-year-old boys were almost expected to sneak into bed with their parents.

Naruto was standing in front of Iruka's side of the bed now, and he was reaching a tentative hand out to wake the man. Iruka simply pulled aside the blankets and lazily patted the mattress. Kakashi shifted and murmured something comforting to Naruto and stilled when the boy was safely nestled against Iruka.

"You need to talk about it, munchkin?" Iruka whispered into sunny locks.

"No."

That meant it had been about Iruka and Kakashi getting killed, probably in the same way Minato and Kushina had been murdered, so the school teacher dropped it and simply pulled the boy closer. Kakashi draped his arm over Naruto's back, wrapping his family in a loose hug and giving their little ball of sunshine some much needed comfort. While this was no longer a common occurrence, they had a routine and it was easy to fall back into it.

Kakashi would keep them all safe in his arms and Iruka would stay awake until the other two were fast asleep. Naruto simply made sure they were both still where he'd left them when he'd gone to bed earlier. It wasn't miraculous, but it helped them all.

As soon as the breathing on both sides was even and strong, Iruka could feel the weightless sensation that came right before the mind shut down to rest; so Iruka let go.


End file.
